Priority Pass adds Edmonton Transborder lounge to their network

Priority Pass, the independent airport business class lounge access program has added the Plaza Premium Lounge (USA Transborder) in Edmonton to their roster of lounges. Edmonton becomes the 6th Canadian city to have a lounge or lounges available to members of the Priority Pass program. The lounge is located airside near gate 88 and is open 4:30 - 18:30 daily.

The Priority Pass program allows anyone to join with membership fees ranging from US$99 to US$349 and lounge visits costing from US$27 to free depending on which membership you get. Some credit cards in Canada like Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard and the BMO World Elite MasterCard give their cardholders the basic membership ($99) for free as part of their benefits package. For more information please visit Priority Pass (Priority Pass is running a promo right now for 20% off memberships until April 4)

American Express Gold Rewards Card Bonus Points have posted

As a follow to my post from late December on the American Express Gold Rewards Card and the ensuing comments about cardholders receiving a targetted bonus for completing a certain amount of spending, I am happy to report that I received my 5,000 Bonus Membership Rewards points earlier this week. When I checked the terms of the offer it did say it could take up to 60 days after the end of the promo (Jan 15) for the points to post and Amex kept to their T&Cs.

I would like to know if anyone else received their targetted bonus this week? Do so by commenting below

Free Hertz #1 Club Gold Membership

The first 'elite' level of Hertz's Loyalty program which normally costs $60 is being offered for free until April 30th. Essentially the best feature of the #1 Club Gold membership is expedited service for picking up your rental car and at 40 specific airports worldwide you don't even have to check in at the counter, you just go straight to your car. This is a similar service to National's Emerald Club program.

To join Hertz #1 Club Gold for free please visit Hertz.com and apply by April 30.

Redemption Stories: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

This will be a new feature on Rewards Canada where we reach out to our subscriber and viewer base to tell us their stories of reward program redemption. We want to hear good stories, bad stories and of course plain old ugly ones! We will compile a few of the stories together and post them right here on our blog. For our first post we might as well go with Canada's longest running frequent flyer program, Aeroplan.

If you want to share your Aeroplan Redemption story with the rest of Canada whether it is good, bad or ugly, please email us at info@rewardscanada.ca. You can send us a couple of sentences, a whole story or feel free to submit a video! Watch for the first Redemption Stories on Aeroplan to be posted within the next few weeks.

1,000 Free Starpoints for a quick survey

As posted on Flyertalk by Starwood Lurker, SPG members can take a really short survey and be rewarded with 1,000 Starpoints. Note: Please add your SPG account number to the field for name and email address. The survey is open until March 9.

You can complete the survey here

Accor Platinum Status for free again? Perhaps....

Another free Accor A|Club Platinum status offer has been released for a specific target market but according to some other frequent flyer bloggers anyone signing up for the link is receiving the status. This is targetted to Citi Premier Miles World Elite MasterCard program in the United Arab Emirates so please use at your discretion but sign up sooner then later if you do as these offers tend to get pulled early. As always buyer beware as you may be asked in the future to provide proof of being a Citi UAE cardholder in which case you may have your status revoked.

To sign up for free platinum status visit Accor Hotels

Join Etihad Guest for a chance to win 2 Economy Class tickets anywhere they fly

Etihad Airways is making a push to have more people join their program. Normally promos like this require a flight or some mileage earning action but for this contest, all you have to do is join the Etihad Guest program for a chance to win two Coral Economy Class tickets to any destination in the Etihad network. For those of you who may not be aware, Etihad serves Toronto three times weekly from Abu Dhabi with an extensive network out of their U.A.E. that can be connected to.

To enter visit Etihad Airways

Hyatt Gold Passport dropping 4 airline partners, including Air Canada/Aeroplan

Taken from Hyatt:

"After March 15, 2012, Hyatt will no longer offer guests the option to earn miles with Aeroplan (Air Canada), Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines and US Airways for hotel stays. You may continue to earn miles with these airlines for completed stays through March 15. Additionally, after this time period, Hyatt Gold Passport members will no longer be able to convert Hyatt Gold Passport points to miles with these airline programs."

Unfortunate for Aeroplan (and the other airlines) to lose Hyatt as a a partner, although for myself and most frequent travellers I believe this isn't a huge issue as there is more value in earning Gold Passport points on Hyatt stays rather than miles (except on the odd occasion where there were big mileage bonuses offered)

RBC British Airways Visa Infinite: Up to 50,000 Bonus Avios

As we mentioned a couple of days ago, the new version of the RBC British Airways Visa was released today. The RBC British Airways Visa Infinite replaces the old BA Platinum card that has been around for a number of years. With the Infinite branding comes a better suite of insurance benefits (though not as complete as the RBC Avion Infinite and Infinite cards from other banks) and card perks namely 31 day out of province medical insurance. The sign up bonus remains the same at 15,000 Avios however to celebrate the launch of the card, 35,000 additional Avios will be awarded to any new cardholder who applies by May 31 and spends $5,000 within the first 3 months of card membership. This brings the total of the signup bonus to 50,000 Avios, which ties past and present offers for the AeroplanPlus Platinum card and the special RFD Capital One Aspire World Travel MasterCard as the highest mile/point offer for a credit card. The card comes with an annual fee of $165 for the primary card and $75 for supplementary cards.

What can you get for 50,000 Avios? A round-trip economy class flight to England on British Airways (+taxes/fees) from anywhere in Canada or 10 one way trips between Toronto and New York (+taxes/fees). There many other options as well including upgrading paid tickets to the next higher category on BA flights (i.e. Economy to Economy Plus; Economy Plus to Business etc)

Some additional details of the card are:
- Earn 1 Avios for every $1 CAD you spend on the card.
- Earn double Avios for every $1 CAD you spend on British Airways purchases
- Receive a complimentary Companion Award Ticket~ when you spend $30,000 or more on your card in any calendar year*.
- Enjoy Comprehensive Insurances including 31-day Out-of-Country/Province Emergency Medical Insurance.
- Minimum credit limit of $5,000 (provided income requirements of $60k personal or $100k household are met).

For more details or to apply for the card please visit: rbcroyalbank.com

In the next couple of weeks watch for a complete review of this card in our standard Rewards Canada fashion as well as the new features of the card to be added to all of our credit card comparison charts.

WestJet Rewards: Fly More Earn More Promotion + new WS/RBC Credit Card offer

I said it before and I'll say it again, WestJet is really starting to make some moves with their rewards program. First the name was changed from Frequent Guest to Rewards (which is a good move as frequent guest tends to refer to Hotel Reward programs and was actually used first by Scandic Hotels for their reward program). We've now seen a first flight bonus, eastern triangle flight bonuses and free flight offers to New York and now the Fly More Earn More promotion. This a really decent offer for those who find themselves flying WestJet especially if you hit the $6000 spend level as the bonus of $500 combined with your base dollars of $140 for a total of $640 WestJet dollars equates to a 10.6% return on the money you spent and that does not include the free flight you also receive.

Along with the Earn More Fly More offer, WestJet and RBC have a new sign up offer for their WestJet Rewards World MasterCard which combines the basic $100 sign up bonus with a $99 companion ticket that is good for flights in Canada and the Continental U.S.. This offer is more lucrative than last years $350 WestJet dollar sign up bonus if you use the companion ticket on flight that costs more than $349 which in today's market is not hard to do. Full details on these new offers can be found below straight from the WestJet press release:

Starting today, WestJet Rewards members who register in the Fly more, Earn more promotion will be eligible to earn one the following bonuses on WestJet-operated flights flown between March 1 and December 31, 2012:
Reach $1500 in qualifying spend and get a bonus of $100 WestJet dollars, or
Reach $3000 in qualifying spend and get a bonus of $200 WestJet dollars, or
Reach $6000 in qualifying spend and get a bonus of $500 WestJet dollars plus one round-trip flight anywhere WestJet flies in Canada or the continental U.S.

Full details of the promotion are available at westjet.com/earnmore.

Also starting today, WestJet launches an exciting limited-time offer of a $99 round-trip companion flight as well as a welcome bonus of $100 WestJet dollars for new WestJet RBC World MasterCard cardholders. To receive this offer, new cardholders must apply and be approved from March 1 to April 30, 2012, and make their first purchase by June 15, 2012.

This offer allows new cardholders to take one companion on a round-trip flight, on the same itinerary, for $99 (excluding taxes, fees and surcharges) to any WestJet-operated destination in Canada or the continental U.S., excluding Hawaii and Puerto Rico. What’s better, the $100 WestJet dollars welcome bonus can be used to pay for the round-trip companion flight. For more information, visit westjet.com/creditcard.